In Real Life with Charlotte Yarkoni—Spotlight on Erik Reker

Welcome back to In Real Life, where I talk to people from Microsoft about things other than work.

This week meet Erik Reker, an animal lover who spends his free time helping shelter dogs find their forever homes. From socializing to training to fostering, Erik puts a lot of love and energy into helping dogs in need have a better life. 

You can watch a snippet of our conversation online, but there is more to the story. During the day, Erik is a Director of Business Operations on our Commercial Marketplace Operations team, but we didn’t talk about that! We had more pressing matters to discuss: Dogs.

A lifelong dog-lover, Erik is a volunteer at Seattle Humane, where he has met and helped hundreds of dogs in need. Erik told me the story of Ice, an albino husky who had a rough start to his young life.

“The most touching and the most difficult and challenging experiences have to do with fostering dogs,” Erik said, and that is particularly true for Ice.

At two years old, Ice had escaped his owner’s backyard ten times. He was routinely found, returned, and placed back in the yard, only to escape again. Eventually, the owner’s veterinarian called Seattle Humane to intervene, and the owner willingly relinquished Ice, who hadn’t been socialized or trained. He had lived his life, day in and day out, in that backyard with no interaction.

Unsure of people and other animals, the folks at Seattle Humane knew that Ice would have a hard time being adopted. So, Erik and his partner decided to foster him. They taught him the basics—sit, stay, fetch—and they also taught him he could trust humans. They took time to get to know him and let him get to know them, and when the time was right, Erik and his Seattle Humane colleagues started a social media campaign to find Ice’s forever home.

And find it they did. In a sweet turn for Erik, Ice was adopted by a fellow Microsoft employee named Jessica, who immediately bonded with him and has given him the life he always deserved. Jessica still sends Erik updates about Ice, and Erik is grateful that giving Ice a chance in his own home led to a loving and happy permanent home.

“Thank you, Jessica, if you watch this. And I’m just so happy that he got a great life,” Erik said, and with a smile he added, “It was heartbreaking to have to let him go.”

Another success is the story of Susie, a 13-year-old Australian Shepherd mix who was found in her apartment with her owner, who had passed away. Susie stayed loyally with her owner, not understanding what happened. When she arrived at Seattle Humane, she was out of sorts and unsure of everyone around her. The life she’d known for so long was gone and she wasn’t dealing well with the change.

Erik tried to foster Susie, as he’d done for Ice, but Susie wasn’t having it. She was withdrawn and scared—she wouldn’t let Erik come near her. So, a special team—a v-Team of sorts—was put in place for Susie, as it is for other special needs dogs who are unlikely to be adopted due to a variety of social or emotional issues.

Team Susie went to work, learning her triggers, her motivations, and attempting to socialize her so she could become a happy dog again. Erik reported that it took a couple of months, but one Saturday he saw her out for a walk with one of the other volunteers. She approached him, gave him a dog kiss on the nose, and went about her walk.

“That same day, she was adopted,” Erik said. “This is some of the great work that the hundreds of volunteers at Seattle Humane are doing every day. It warmed my heart that these volunteers would not give up on her. I love this dog.”

And I think that’s the crux of why Erik’s work is so impactful. Anyone who has ever bonded with an animal knows the joy they bring to your life, and how hard it is when it’s time to say goodbye. Erik walks into a situation every week where his goal is to say goodbye to wonderful animals, and that is both hard and fulfilling work.

We recorded this interview before the COVID-19 outbreak, and since then Erik and the Seattle Humane Society’s work has become increasingly important. Erik told me that all dogs available for adoption are currently in foster homes across King County while they wait for their forever homes, except for those needing veterinary care or extra behavioral training. Volunteers and fosters have stepped up even more during an unprecedented time of uncertainty to help ensure the dogs have their best shot at their best lives while helping keep everyone involved safe and healthy.

Erik has many stories of helping dogs find their forever homes, and encourages anyone who wants to create their own stories, through volunteering or adoption, to visit the website of your local rescue shelter including Seattle Humane. Those in the Seattle area looking to adopt can visit the Adoption by Appointment system, where you can preview available animals (dogs, cats, and critters), pre-apply, and place an animal on hold and schedule an appointment to meet them.

And that’s a wrap on this edition of In Real Life. I hope you’ll join me next time for another inspiring story behind the scenes of my fellow Microsoft colleagues.